Bank robber trap



y 10, 1951 J. H. BROWN 2,560,410

BANK ROBBER TRAP Filed Feb. 1'7, 1949 2 Sheets.. 1

INVENTOR. JOHN H. BROWN ATTORNEY July 10, 1951 J. H. BROWN BANK ROBBER TRAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 17, 1949 \\\\\\\\\1\\\\\\\ fi m u m 2 r L/ m m Q 2- Q n W Q m IN VEN TOR. JOHN H. BROWN ATTORNEY Patented July 10, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,5e0,410 BANK RoBBEit TRAP John H. Brown, Yakima, Wash. Application February 17, 1949, Serial No. 76,980

1 Claim.

teller or attendants of the building so that the robber can be trapped between the doors by careiul manipulating of the controls.

Another object of the invention is to provide escape-proof doors built up in complete. units than can be readily installed within the entrance or vestibule of the-building, or that can installed within the walls of the building at the time of construction.

These and otherincidental objects will heapparent .in the drawings, specification and claim.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of one of my new and improved escape-proof doors before installmg.

Figure 2 illustrates the same in the entrance or vestibule of a building, taken from the inside of the building looking out, parts of the door being broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 3 is a sectional plan view of the vestibule illustrating two of my escape-proof doors installed therein.

Figure 4 is a side sectional View taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction indicated.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 8.

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail fragmentary sectional view taken on line 66 of Figure 8 illustrating the locking mechanism.

Figure '7 is an enlarged detail side view of Figure 6, partially broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 8 is a transverse sectional view of the escape-proof door shown in closed position.

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 99 of Figure 8 looking in the direction indicated.

Figure 10 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 50-40 of Figure 2 looking in the direction indicated.

Referring more specifically to the drawings:

My new and improved bank robber trap consists of the vestibule I' With the usual entrance doors 2 disposed therein. My invention consists of placing escape-proof door units 3 and 4 within the-said vestibule, one of the units adjacent the entrance doors and the other unit spaced as far as possible into the vestibule within the building as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

These escape-proof doors may be placed as illustrated in the drawings, which is the most practical way of installing the door after the building" has been built, but they could also be built into the walls of the building still carrying out the object of my invention, which is the blocking off of both ends of the vestibule in order to trap a robber within the said vestibule.

The escape-proof door consists of hollow panels, 5, 6 and I, the panels 5 and 5 being vertically disposed against the walls of the vestibule, while the panel I is disposed upon the upper ends of the panels 5 and t and between the same. The panels 5 and 6 house the collapsible doors 8 and 9 while the hollow panel 1 encases the operating mechanism for operating the said collapsible doors.

The collapsible doors consist of vertical double bars I0, connected together by the scissor type bars I I which are pivotally mounted at I2 at their midsection to the vertical bars I 3, and having their ends slidably mounted within the bars I l within grooves I 5 formed longitudinal of the bars I4, best illustrated in Figures 5 and 8. This is of well known construction and it is felt that it is not necessary to elaborate on this structure for this reason.

Tracks I6 are formed in the upper panel I and are adapted to support the double bars IEI of the collapsible door. The vertical bars I! and I8 extend up into the panel I terminating in guide members I9 and 20. These guide members are adapted to be guided by the tracks 2| and 22 which are secured to the inner walls of the panel I, best illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. These guide members maintain the vertical bars I1 and I8 in a vertical position by having guide rollers 23 journalled thereto and adapted to operate within the guideways 2| and 22.

An endless chain 24 is trained about the driving sprocket 25 and the idler sprocket 26. The guide member I9 is fixedly secured to the upper run 2'! of the chain 24 at 28 while the guide member 2G is adapted to be secured to the lower run 29 of the chain 24 at 30. Referring to Figure 8, when the chain is rotated in the direction of the arrow it will tend to collapse the doors 8 and 9 by moving the guide member I9 to the left and.

the guide member 20 to the right or vice versa by the reversal of the chain 24, these guide members may be brought together.

Referring to Figure 10, a driving motor 3| is housed within a housing 32 and drives the driving sprocket 25 by the chain 33. This chain is driven through a slipping friction clutch 34 so that in the event that anyone got between the doors 8 and 9 when they were being closed, the clutch would slip preventing serious injury to that person.

I will now describe the operation of my burglar trap. In the event of a robbery anyone of the attendants of the bank can operate a secret switch that will start the motor 3|, referring to Figure 2, which will drive the chain 24 in the direction of the arrow. This will expand the collapsible doors 8 and 9 from within the panels and 6 by moving the guide members 19 and 20 towards the middle of the door opening until they come together as illustrated in Figure 8. When this happens, referring to Figures 6 and 7, the latch 35, which is pivotally connected to the vertical bar 18 at 36 will latch over the pin 31 fixedly mounted within the vertical bar 11, the two vertical bars are locked together so that they cannot be pushed apart in any direction.

When both of the escape-proof doors 3 and 4 are closed while the robber is within the vestibule he is unable to escape. The motor 31 may continue to run against the friction of the friction clutch 34 until shut off, or the switch that closes the motor circuit may be closed stopping the same. The doors may be opened by reversing the motor, which will open the doors to the position illustrated in Figure 2.

I do not wish to be limited to the exact mechanism illustrated, as other forms of safety doors may be employed still coming within the object of my invention, which is to trap the robber within a space located between the two escapeproof doors, which are operated by the attendants of the bank or the building when a robbery takes place.

What I claim is:

A trap for use in buildings such as banks having a regular entrance and exit door, comright angle projecting 'stretch of the chain between means for operating the chain to move the gates prising a vestibule for said door, a barrier movably mounted at each end of said vestibule, the vestibule having at the entrance and exit opposed hollow vertical panels and hollow top panels communicating with the vertically opposed hollow panels, each barrier including a pair of collapsible gatesoperating between and in the vertically opposed and top hollow panels across the vestibule, each gate having an extension at its inner end projecting into the top hollow panel, one of said extensions being longer than the companion extension-and provided with a bent portion to bypass the companion extension, the terminals of the extensions having right angularly projecting portions, the projecting portion on each gate extending over the top of the adjacent gate, a pair of rails adjacent each projecting portion, spaced-apart rollers on the projecting portions to ride on the pairs of rails, sprockets mounted at opposite ends of the top hollow portion, an endless chain trained around the sprockets, means for connecting the right angle projecting portion of the extension of one of the gates to one stretch of the chain between the sprockets, means for connecting the portion of the extension of the companion gate with the companion the sprockets, and

across the vestibule or into the vertical hollow panels.

JOHN H. BROWN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

